Who are you going to believe...me or your lying eyes?

Lincoln freeing the slaves, Oct 1862 (via Denver Times-call)

There was a time, seemingly long ago, when there was an objective reality composed of people, places and events separate and distinct from subjective opinion. Nobody questioned that Abraham Lincoln had been president of the US, that the Pyramids in Egypt exist or that the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbour. Pictures and stories (whether it be in the press or familial in nature), were sufficient to convince.

That was then.

Today, our history is 'revisionist', our Christianity 'muscular' and everyone has their own set of 'facts'.  If a lie is repeated often enough, it gains the ring of truth.  Whether it is some yellow-cake or the lavender mafia, the civil war or civil unions...the social reality is by consensus and fiat, not consciousness and fact.  Civil discourse has been replaced with shouting matches, logic with fallacy and reason with rhetoric.

Have we so abandoned our education that we are willing to swallow anything that someone else says, no matter how preposterous it is?  Are we so consumed with self-doubt and indecision that we are unwilling to cry out 'FOUL' when someone baldly lies?  Have we abdicated our own intellectual capabilities that we will not...or cannot...discern between truth and falsehood?

Yes, this relates to the current media, who call themselves 'news' much like a 3rd generation New Yorker will call himself 'italian' because his great-grandfather came from the Old Country.  It also relates to the political situation in the US, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corporate Amerika. 

More to the point for this blog, it relates to the priestly abuse scandals in the RC, the 'homosexual agenda' tripe in segments of the Anglican community, the ordination issues throughout the greater catholic communion, the Leviticites, the Dominionists, the literalists...etc.

Rather than accepting what [insert prelate name here] has told the sheeple what to believe, I would challenge that folks take a different approach.

What does Scripture actually say about these issues?
What is the unedited and unbiased Tradition have to contribute (if Tradition is important to your faith-system)? 
What insight does Reason give you about these things? 

If these things create cognitive dissonance, then examine both the evidence and the beliefs which do not reconcile with them.  Which is more compelling, which is objectively true? 

Like the Hippy says, "Why don't you decide for yourself what is right?" (Luke 12:57)